Fridays are a great day for my partner and I. Neither of us have work on Friday mornings so it's a relaxed slow start to the day at our home in Kew, south-west London.

I am a lark. I am always awake by 5.30am at the latest and look forward to the World News and the good old shipping forecast on Radio 4. I love to start the day with an imaginary sail around the British Isles, along the south coast, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Lundy and Irish Sea, which make me think of St Bride's Bay and St David's Head in west Wales – my favourite places on earth. A great start to the day.

I then wander downstairs to do emails before tea and breakfast. If I have a problem and need to think, or have a speech to write, I do the ironing. I love ironing – making the rough places smooth. It helps the thought processes.

This morning was different. The clock said 8.45am and we were just waking up. What on earth?

Gradually, we realised that there was silence outside. Birdsong and a bit of road traffic, but no roar of aeroplanes at all.

Could it be that I am not a lark at all, but I am woken up by those infamous flights into Heathrow that start coming in from about 4.30am? Maybe I am no different from the rest of my former constituents who complain quite justifiably, about the disruption to their lives and health caused by Heathrow airport?

I lie there rejoicing in the peace and remembering the previous day, when I realised how loud the birdsong sounded. I was in the garden with my small grandchildren, who have just had a new baby sister, listening to the birds singing and trying to identify the birds making those lovely sounds. It's something we do not enjoy in south-west London, except when something stops the aeroplanes.

Some people will already be out there calculating the losses to the UK economy, issuing dire warnings about the demise of UK plc if international businessmen cannot enjoy the dubious facilities and shopping opportunities of a "hub" airport at Heathrow.

Dare we hope that it will finally lay the Third Runway at Heathrow to rest and concentrate government minds on more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of transport?

• Jenny Tonge is president of HACAN Clearskies, a Liberal Democrat peer and former MP for Richmond Park.